Every dog has his day! That was certainly the case when man’s best friend was the centre of attention on Sunday afternoon when the St. Lucia Kennel Club, founded in 2002, staged the Independence Dog Show and Family Day at the Recreational Park in Vieux Fort. The event was designed to showcase dogs through a parade of the animals, with obedience and protection demonstrations. It also served as a means of sensitizing people about the role and function of the Club and to encourage the proper breeding, care and maintenance of dogs.
This pooch came dressed to win and, as a result, received the first place prize. Side attractions included a bouncy castle, music, food bar, drink bar, live interviews and live streaming of the event through Facebook and Instagram. About 20 dogs of various sizes, descriptions and colours were on show including Dobermans, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, Jack Russells and other small breeds. They were displayed in a festive, family atmosphere.
Patrons had the opportunity to observe some of the breeds of dogs now found in Saint Lucia and were treated to demonstrations of animals protecting their owners and property, as well as showing their ability to pay attention and obey their owners/handlers.
President of the St. Lucia Kennel Club, Colvis Samuels said: “Today for us is big because it is our first event for this year. We have a socialization and expansion and exhibition going on here at the Recreational Park in Vieux Fort. We chose Vieux Fort because we see it as a new frontier and is part of our plan to expand and extend the St. Lucia Kennel Club. We are involved in the care and maintenance of dogs and we promote everything related to that.”
Samuels stressed the importance of care and maintenance. “If you don’t care for your dogs properly, they are likely to cause problems. We want to dispel the notion that it’s dogs causing the problems, as opposed to people who do not breed and take care of their animals as well as they should.” To my surprise, the most popular breed at the Independence Dog Show is the most feared: the Pit Bull! Samuels told me that even though the Pit Bull gets a bad rap, it was well represented, not only at the dog show, but all over Saint Lucia. Despite the fact the Pit Bull has a bad reputation (earned or otherwise), the dogs were obedient throughout the afternoon. On a few occasions, I saw other dog owners petting them gently without any retaliation.
While the crowd took pleasure watching the proud owners parade their canines, by far the highlight of the afternoon was a display of Protection Aggression, with executive club member Gregory Ragoonanan being the so-called “guinea pig”. Wearing a protective suit from neck to toe, he bravely played the role of intruder while trying to ward off a well-trained service dog, who was clearly in attack mode. He survived the ordeal with flying colours.
What’s next for the St. Lucia Kennel Club? There are similar dog shows planned for June and November this year; then, in December, there is a Caribbean Dog Show which Samuels referred to as the first in the region.
